Trip reports
Elmley Marshes, Capel & Funton Creek.
Sunday, 6 January 2008
As we walked down the track there was a pair of Little Grebes on a pool on the right and a Curlew on the left, several Meadow Pipits were 'seeping' about and a number of Stonechat were perched on reeds and stems. Flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover flew over and landed in the fields, and then more distantly we saw a flock of some 300 Brent Geese.
We found other waders including Turnstone, Dunlin, Ringed and Grey Plover. On reaching the somewhat chilly Swale hide we saw large numbers of duck on the river including many Wigeon and Shelduck and lesser numbers of Teal and Pintail, sadly we were unable to find the hoped for Red-breasted Merganser reported here.
On the return walk we went into the next hide where Vince located a single Bewick's Swan on a pool to the left before it disappeared from view. Sue noticed two waders fly in and was able to find us a Black-tailed Godwit in an otherwise pretty wader deficient pools.
We were able to watch Marsh Harriers and must have seen at least ten during the day. Next Alison, who seems to have a talent for finding owls, pointed out a Short-eared Owl, which we watched for several minutes. Amid the merry banter, someone referred to the 'owls of delight' that were heard, as we added this another new owl to their year list.
We added Gadwall, Great Black-backed Gull and Common Gull before walking to the car park. A competition to find one new bird for the day on the way back was won by Alison with a Greenfinch in the farm garden, but I don't think she ever got her prize whatever it was.
After lunch we set off for Capel and had only gone about 100m when we stopped to see what a group of birders were looking at. Here we met Richard and his friends who kindly put us on to a Peregrine sitting on the ground and a Merlin perched on a gate. Nice as these two birds were, it was one of those 'if only' moments when he told us we had missed the Rough-legged Buzzard by a couple of minutes. That will teach us not to spend so long over our flasks and sandwich boxes.
Reaching Capel, we stopped near some other birders for news, but learned that they had been watching towards the prison for several hours with only a brief view of the Rough-legged Buzzard. From here we saw another Peregrine and found a Bewick among a group of Mute Swans. Moving down to the Raptor Watch Point, there was a flock of Stock Doves looking very smart in the sunlight, a Sparrowhawk on the ground and then several Red-legged Partridges. A single Snipe flew over the reeds and we watched both Hen and Marsh Harriers. Another wader was added when Sue located a Ruff in the adjacent field.
Vince went down to Harty Ferry but rang to say that clay pigeon shooting had put paid to any birding down there, so the remaining 7 of us decided we would try Funton Creek. As we moved back along the track we met Steve and Jane who had just come from Funton and reported large numbers of Avocet and a Slavonian Grebe.
By the time we reached the Creek the tide was very far out leaving expanses of mud for the birds. We found several groups of Avocet and a flock of Knot. On the river were Wigeon, Shelduck, Pintail and Great Crested Grebe. We thought we had located the Slavonian Grebe, but it was difficult to get a decent view as the light was quickly dropping at this time. Oystercatcher made its way noisily onto our list and then we saw a Mistle Thrush in the field on the opposite side of the road. Just after leaving, a Jay flying across the road was our last bird of the day bringing our day list to 65 and the group's year list to 102.